Epistar, already the largest LED chip manufacturer in Taiwan will take a stake in the second largest manufacturer Huga, and GaAs foundry Win Semiconductor will invest as well.

Apparently driven by the ramping demands for LED backlights in LCD TVs, the leading Taiwanese LED chip maker Epistar will invest in and partner with Huga Optotech. Epistar will become Huga’s largest shareholder and in related news gallium arsenide (GaAs) foundry specialist Win Semiconductor will also invest in Huga.

Epistar’s board of directors has approved a plan to issue 78 million new shares that it will exchange for 184.08 million Huga shares. Huga is also issuing 100 million new shares at NT $30 (USD $0.94) to raise additional capital. Epistar will subscribe to 44.79 million of the new shares with a NT $1.5 billion (USD $50 million) cash investment.

The Epistar deal with Huga is scheduled to close July 19. At that time Epistar will hold a 47.88% stake in Huga worth NT $8.6 billion (USD $268 million). Epistar hopes the consolidation will boost capacity and efficiency so it can better serve the escalating TV market.

Win Semiconductor, meanwhile, is expected to buy the remaining new shares issued by Huga according to Taiwan semiconductor news specialist DigiTimes. Win Semiconductor Chairman Dennis Chen is also the current Chairman of Huga.

Epistar has previously been active in the acquisition market. In October 2009 Epistar acquired a 19.3% stake in Tekore Co, and earlier acquired a 40.75% stake in Na Ya Photonics. All of the acquisitions provide Epistar with access to additional MOCVD reactors needed for LED production, but which are currently in short supply.

Philips has just unveiled what it’s calling the “world’s first LED replacement for [the] most common household bulb,” taking aim at the aging, inefficient 60W gizmo that’s been lighting our homes since forever. This is the future of lighting, people.   Philips lifted the veil–or perhaps, pulled back the shutter–on its new EnduraLED effort at the Lightfair International tradeshow, but it’ll be a few months until it’s piling onto shelves in consumer hardware stores. In fact, it’ll arrive right at the end of this year in the U.S., but that’s still months ahead of upcoming legislation that requires more efficient lighting systems.   We’ve been hearing about supposedly magic LED lights for a while now, but Philips is noting that the 12W Endura unit is a direct swap-in replacement for the most common 60W bulb in use–over 425 million of which are sold in the U.S. every year, making up some 50% of the bulb sales market. These bulbs, while cheap and reliable, have a limited lifespan and such a horrendous inefficiency in turning electrical energy into useful light that they’re being phased out for the sake of economic and environmental protection all around the world. They were temporarily replaced by a glut of compact fluorescent units, as you’ll know … but technologically these units aren’t ideal, and the light they deliver is often un-dimmable, and very artificial-looking to the human eye.

Hence the interest in LEDs. Philips is noting it had to call in the scientists to perfect the “remote phosphor” technology (the magic that makes these units glow in soft white colors) in the new white LEDs inside the Endura bulbs, as well as working to get the optical light-casting performance of the bulbs up to standard. The resulting units are suitably high-tech looking, and each can “deliver up to 80% energy savings and last 25 times longer than its century-old predecessor.” Each unit will cost much more than its glass and filament 60W incandescent ancestor, but a lifespan of some 25,000 hours (three years permanently lit, or about 10 years or so of “normal” use) combined with the electricity savings you’ll make will compensate for the price.

Lighting accounts for about 17.5% of global electricity use and, within the United States, the majority of lighting energy is consumed in commercial buildings. Recent innovations in lighting technologies, particularly the development of solid state lighting using light emitting diodes (LEDs), hold significant long-term potential for energy savings in the commercial building sector.

According to a new report from Pike Research, LED lighting will become an increasingly important segment of the market, and by 2020 it will achieve a 46% penetration of the $4.4 billion U.S. market for lamps in the commercial, industrial, and outdoor stationary sectors.

“LED lighting will reach an inflection point in the next five years,” says managing director Clint Wheelock. “As solid state lighting costs come down and performance increases, LEDs will become a practical option for an increasing number of commercial applications.” Wheelock adds that LEDs are already widely used in traffic signals and exit sign lighting, and Pike Research anticipates that those markets will become saturated within the next few years. The outdoor stationary sector will be the next growth area for LED lighting, followed by retail and office/professional and institutional buildings.

However, despite the strong long-term prospects for LED lighting, Pike Research’s analysis indicates that the category still faces a number of technological and economic hurdles. As a result, while the cost and efficacy of solid state lighting are rapidly improving, it will be a number of years before LEDs lead the commercial lighting market. During this period of transition, fluorescent T8 and T5 lamps, which offer good efficacy and life at very reasonable prices, will overtake incandescent lamps as the leading technology prior to the coming of age for LED lighting products.

Pike Research’s study, “Energy Efficient Lighting for Commercial Markets”, examines the key technology and market trends that are driving the use of LED and other high-efficiency lighting in the Commercial, Industrial, and Outdoor Stationary sectors. The report includes a 10-year forecast for lamp and luminaire sales in the U.S. across 10 different lighting technology categories in seven major building types and application sectors. In addition, the study provides SWOT analyses of 16 key industry players. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.

Pike Research is a market research and consulting firm that provides in-depth analysis of global clean technology markets. The company’s research methodology combines supply-side industry analysis, end-user primary research and demand assessment, and deep examination of technology trends to provide a comprehensive view of the Smart Energy, Clean Transportation, Clean Industry, Corporate Sustainability, and Building Efficiency sectors.

Novaled announces a new top-emitting white OLED, while Universal Display receives $4 million from the DOE to build pilot OLED production line

Universal Display will have two years and $4 million to demonstrate the scalability of its UniversalPHOLED technology for the general illumination market, and together with Moser Baer Technologies will build a pilot production line. Novaled, meanwhile has a new top-emitting white OLED technology that is made on a metal substrate, doesn’t require brittle and expensive Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), and is rated for 50,000 hours of life.

Novaled developed the new OLED using its P-doped, Intrinsic, N-doped (PIN) OLED technology that leverages proprietary host and doping materials, and blue fluorescent emitting material from SFC Korea. The company also adds a proprietary light-extraction layer that eliminates color shift and increases efficiency.

The metal substrate in the new PIN-OLED-based design offers improved heat dissipation, mechanical stability, and flexibility, and offers compatibility with roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques.

The new Novaled OLED outputs 30 lm/W with an initial luminance of 1,000 cd/m². With this achievement Novaled demonstrates once again the robustness and potential of its PIN technology”, says Gildas Sorin, Novaled CEO. “Configurations like top or bottom, inverted or non-inverted organic structures with various emitting materials and metal electrodes bring the proper high performance for each specific market request in the display and lighting domain.”

Universal, meanwhile, is a technology leader in phosphorescent OLED technology and materials and has claimed a 4x energy efficiency advantage over competing technologies. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has invested $4 million in Universal under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for a program titled “Creation of a U.S. Phosphorescent OLED Lighting Panel Manufacturing Facility.”

Universal will use the funding to prove out the technology, materials, and manufacturability of its UniversalPHOLED technology for commercial lighting. Moser Baer Technologies (US subsidiary of Moser Baer India) will design and build a US-based pilot production facility for Universal.

“This new U.S. DOE program represents a very important step towards the establishment of high-volume manufacturing of white OLED lighting panels in the U.S.,” stated Steven V. Abramson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Display. “We are delighted to have this opportunity to team with Moser Baer Technologies, with its experienced leadership in manufacturing of thin-film, high-volume products. By combining our highly-efficient UniversalPHOLED technology and materials with Moser Baer Technologies’ proprietary manufacturing technology, we believe that the new pilot facility can demonstrate a cost-effective route to high-volume production of energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly white OLED lighting products, which in turn can serve as a basis for new manufacturing investment and job growth in the U.S.”

Here’s an example of an office building that has been converted to 100% LED light. The new bulbs consume 48% less energy than those they replaced (mostly fluorescents lights). The workplace in question is the headquarters of Cree, a company in North Carolina that specializes solid-state LED lights. The parking lots, entryways, lobby and conference rooms at Cree’s headquarters are now lit by eco-effective XLamp LEDs. Even the high-pressure sodium parking lights and spotlights were converted to LED lights.

Cree wanted to demonstrate that LED lights are a viable option today for businesses and residences. The company claims that their lights render the same type of light that is produced by fluorescents or incandescents. It looks like the LEDs in the photo above are producing a full-spectrum light.

When LEDs replace incandescent bulbs, there is also the added advantage of reducing AC requirements in the summer.

The only method of lighting more energy efficient than LEDs is daylighting (e.g. through the use of sun tubes, for example).

The future of light is plastic, says Cyberlux.

The company, which specializes in light emitting diodes (LEDs, will come out with prototypes of a new type of white light LEDs in about four months that will cost substantially less to manufacture than conventional LEDs and provide more light at the same time.

In conventional white light LEDs, a semiconductor emits blue light. The blue light passes through the phosphor and becomes white light. The phosphor is thin film on a substrate; the substrate has to be placed in intricate proximity to the semiconductor. Positioning the phosphor is one of the more expensive steps in creating an LED, said Mark Schmidt.

LEDs cost a lot. But they use less energy than conventional lights and come in multiple colors, so you can decorate your house so it looks like Peter Max lives there, as this photo at the Lumileds headquarters shows.

In the coming prototype, the conventional phosphor is replaced with a sheet of polymer, which sort of applies itself into the LED, almost like a layer of shrink wrap. The technology was invented by The University of California Santa Barbara’s Stephen DenBaars, who has been a big advocate of LEDs and Nobel Prize winner Alan Heeger.

Meanwhile, the prototype will have a greater efficiency than conventional LEDs because more photons will get through the phosphor and emerge as white light because of technology from RPI.

View MVS’s most recent LED products and technology here!

Royal Philips Electronics announced the release of their 12 watt EnduraLED bulb at the Lightfair International tradeshow this week, making the company first-to-market with an LED replacement for the most commonly used incandescent bulb in household lighting – the 60 watt.  The bulb delivers up to an 80% energy savings over the traditional 60 watt incandescent bulb, and can last 25 times longer than its century-old predecessor. It has an expected life span of 25,000 hours, equating into possible lifetime energy savings of $120 per bulb.

In the United States alone, more than 425 million 60 watt lamps are sold every year, which accounts for 50% of the incandescent bulb market. Philips calculates that converting these to LED could potentially save 32.6 terawatt hours of electricity annually – enough energy to power the lighting in 16.7 million homes.

In response to the most common complaint about LED’s, that they do not throw the same kind of light as incandescent lamps, Philips used an innovative design and remote phosphor technology to deliver the same soft white light consumers are accustomed to. The bulb also works with standard dimmers, addressing another common customer concern.

The importance of developing an LED equivalent to the 60 watt has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), who created the L-prize competition to spur innovative development in this space. To date Philips is the only entrant in the contest, and while the EnduraLED is built on that prototype, the commercial version does not meet the 10 watt target outlined in the contest. The bulb will be available to consumers in the fourth quarter of 2010, although pricing is not available at this time.

In a similar announcement, just last month GE unveiled their LED replacement for the 40 watt incandescent bulb, which uses 9 watts of energy and is expected out late 2010 or early 2011.

Millennium Visual Systems recently attended the 2010 Lightfair International show as well and will soon be adding a broad selection of LED bulbs to our product line. Stay tuned for updates! And checkout our most recent LED bulb additions for general lighting and specialized needs.

Walkway to be lit with over 81,000 LED lights- The lights get a test run

POUGHKEEPSIE – When the lights are turned on at the Walkway Over the Hudson next weekend, they will be the latest addition to the engineering marvel. The new lights, which are energy efficient, will light the bridge for nighttime visitors.

The Walkway, the state’s latest park – a linear park that crosses the Hudson River from Highland to Poughkeepsie, will be lit by 81,215 LED lights designed by Andy Neal’s Poughkeepsie company, ANL.

“This is literally a mile and a quarter long, single set of tubes. It’s a one inch diameter tubular LED array that stretches from the Highland side to the Poughkeepsie side,” Neal said.

The lights were fabricated by people at the Mid-Hudson Workshop in Poughkeepsie. LEDs use 90 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. The Walkway light components were made by Fala Technology at The Solar Energy Consortium in Kingston.

The $475,000 to pay for the lighting system was secured through Congress by Rep. Maurice Hinchey.

The Walkway, which opened last October, has drawn hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Although not particularly known for its skyscrapers, Latin America will soon have their very own eco tower to add to the growing mix of green skyscrapers all over the world. Torre Reforma, designed by Mexico-based LBR&A Arquitectos, will be Latin America’s tallest building coming in at 244 meters (800 feet), which will put it in somewhere around 180 on the list of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. Even more noteworthy than its height though is that the building is aiming for LEED Platinum certification and will hopefully encourage a wave of green building in Mexico City and the surrounding regions.

Located in downtown Mexico City, Torre Reforma, a 46 story mixed-used development, will sit across the street from Torre Mayor. A historic gothic-style building, which currently exists on the site will be dismantled and rebuilt on the corner of the site and underneath the tower. Inside, the tower will have restaurants, retail, 18 floors of apartments and 26 floors of office space. The tower is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in late 2011.

Halfway up the tower, a two story garden resides in the heart of the building and acts as a vertical park for residents and employees. Floor to ceiling glazing will reveal the park to the exterior and afford views to those inside. On the upper levels, the structural cross bracing membranes, which help stabilize during an earthquake, are visible. The south side of the tower is wedge-shaped and covered in photovoltaic panels to produce power for the building. At night, windows are automatically opened at night to help flush heat from the building. LBR&A Arquitectos has designed the eco tower in hopes of achieving LEED Platinum certification, which will hopefully spur on more green building projects in Latin America.

When it comes time to put in new lightbulbs, you’ll soon have yet another choice, on top of fluorescent, incandescent and halogen lights. They’re cheap, powerful and environmentally friendly, too – LEDs.

Light-emitting diode lamps have long been known for their efficiency, but due to high prices they have been mostly restricted to expensive industrial and consumer goods like billboards, TVs and automobile lights.

But yesterday Philips, the Dutch electronics company, announced it would begin selling LED bulbs at the local discount chain E-mart.

Branded “Ambient LED,” the lights work in sockets for incandescent or halogen lights. Ambient LEDs last 45 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Replace one incandescent light with an LED, and it can cut 30 kilograms of carbon dixiode emissions per year, the same as planting a tree.

“With hopes of introducing high-quality lighting to consumers, we are offering LED lights at a very competitive price,” said Kim Yun-yeong, vice president of the company’s light division.

Ambient LEDs are priced around 20,000 won ($18), about half the cost of previous varieties.

LG Electronics also began selling LEDs for homes in February. The Seoul-based company announced yesterday that it received a certification from the Korea Energy Management Corporation for the product’s exceptionally high energy efficiency.

Compatible with halogen sockets, LG LEDs can be used for 12 hours daily for 10 years and cost 34,000 won.

“We plan to accelerate our LED light business in the coming days by introducing eco-friendly bulbs different from other lights,” said Kim Yong-hwan, director of the company’s solution business team.

LG plans to use those lights at its Yeouido headquarters when they are renovated this year.

Samsung Electronics, meanwhile, is adopting a wait-and-see approach, still uncertain whether LEDs will succeed in the consumer market. Samsung has been making LEDs for industrial purposes since 2007.

“We are still looking into it,” said Lee Jun-ho, a manager on Samsung’s LED business unit.

“There are a lot of things to consider, such as at what specifications and price will work best in the consumer market.”